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Proposal would require tree upkeep
Change recommended on commercial property from 1988 and beyond
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Published: November 14, 2008
Developers and property owners will have to provide maintenance on trees planted in commercial developments from 1988 and beyond if a proposed city-county tree ordinance is adopted.
"Right now, there's nothing in the landscaping ordinance that prohibits people from topping trees as long as the tree doesn't die," said Kirk Ericson of the City-County Planning Department.
That would no longer be the case under the retroactive maintenance change to the ordinance that the City-County Planning Board made yesterday during a special work session.
In addition to a tree-maintenance provision, the other key goals of the ordinance are tree planting and tree preservation. The board made several changes at a work session in October, including these requirements for developers and property owners:
□ Set aside 10 percent of a commercial or multifamily site for trees, whether through new plantings or existing trees.
□ Save existing trees in areas off-limits to development, such as floodplains, stream buffers and wetlands, up to 10 percent of a site. Or have two "large-variety trees," such as maples and oaks, per lot on larger residential lots. For smaller lots, the requirement would be one tree per lot.
The board also decided that all trees currently required in the Unified Development Ordinance would be large-variety trees. The regulations would no longer require an additional inspections-staff member.
Several of the people who sat in on yesterday's session had mixed reactions to the overall changes to the ordinance.
Melynda Dunigan, the past president of the Winston-Salem Neighborhood Alliance, said in an interview that she and other members of the city-county tree-ordinance committee worked 1½ years to put together recommendations for the ordinance, and she believes that the preservation recommendations have basically been removed.
"I would like to see those restored," Dunigan said. "I think it's very important because as a committee we looked at the benefits of trees and realized that it's the large, mature trees that provide the storm-water, water-quality and air-quality benefits that we are all looking for. You can't replace those benefits by planting a new tree. You have to wait 20 or 40 years for that tree to get to some size."
But Nancy Gould, the government affairs director for the Winston-Salem Regional Association of Realtors Inc. and the Homebuilders Association of Winston-Salem, said that the ordinance is now workable.
"It still respects the desires of the tree committee to preserve existing trees and plant new trees," she said. "When I say workable, I mean that you can still develop properties but not to the point that it makes building too difficult."
A public hearing on the proposal will be held next month.
In other business, during a monthly public hearing, the board recommended for approval:
□ A proposal by Impulse Energy LLC and other property owners to develop two tracts at River Ridge Station shopping center in Clemmons. The proposal is to rezone 2.3 acres from residential to Highway Business District, Limited Business District and Special Intense Development Allocation. The village of Clemmons must also approve the rezoning.
□ A proposed text amendment to the Unified Development Ordinance so that federal disaster assistance and flood insurance will remain available to the citizens of Forsyth County.
■ Fran Daniel can be reached at 727-7366 or at fdaniel@wsjournal.com.
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